from the
Holy Land
from
Rabbi Ephraim
Schwartz
"Your friend
in Karmiel"
July 7th
2023 -Volume 12 Issue
39 18th of Tamuz 5783
Parshat Pinchas
Land Lovers
There was a palatable excitement in the city of Bialystok. The
town was buzzing. Is it true? Can it be? The men were all called to the shul,
and they put on their finest Holiday clothing. Some of them even went to the
Mikva first. The ladies as well gathered although they knew that the chances
were that there not going to be able to participate. It was just too exciting
of a moment to miss. They wanted to be there to witness it. They brought their
children who were let out of cheder early for the day to attend. It was a
glorious day in the shtetl.
What was it that had gotten everyone so excited? What do you think
it was? No… it wasn’t a great Rabbi that was coming to visit. Neither was it a siyum
on shas or the opening of a new yeshiva in town. It wasn’t even a
new kosher restaurant or Deli. It was far more spiritual and exciting than all
of that. What had gotten the religious holy city so euphoric was that there was
someone who had just come to town and with him was none other than a bottle of
wine. Yup, wine.
But it wasn’t just yup-wine. It was wine from Eretz Yisrael. From
the Holy Land. The place that they dreamed about. That they davened to one day
see with their eyes. That they hoped and prayed that they would merit to be
able to walk 4 amos on its holy earth. This wasn’t just wine. This was
wine made from the fruits of the land that they thanked Hashem for each time
they bentched after meals. That they had studied about and even gotten
emotional about when they read the Torah reading of the spies who had brought
them back to our nation that didn’t appreciate them. It was the fruits that
Moshe wished and implored Hashem that he would one day be able to come into the
Land of Israel and appreciate. They had the Terumot and Maasrot tithes
removed from them. They were blessed, and tonight all that gathered were going
to get a small taste of this piece of heaven that they had only dreamed of.
After reciting some Psalms and verses that relate to the land of
Israel the gabbai in the shul distributed little shot glasses to everyone
filled half way up with this holy elixir. They were handed out in order of chashivus;
the prestige of the people in the Shul. The Rabbi got first, the Kohanim and
Leviim followed. The Shochet, the Mohel, the Sofer all got a taste and then Reb
Yankeleh, the senior member of the shul took his place on the Bima to get his
little cup. His two grandsons helped him stand up to the podium and he
stretched out his trembling hand to receive his wine. Suddenly, the unthinkable
happened. As Reb Yankeleh started to recite the holy blessing with tears
pouring down his face at the incredible privilege he was about to experience,
his hands started to tremble and twitch from excitement and the glass fell out
of his hand and fell and crashed to the floor. A hush of silence went through
the shul. It was almost as if a Torah had god forbid fallen. No one knew what
to say or do. And then…
Without so much as a blink of an eye this once frail old man
bounded down off the Bima and got down on his hands and knees and started to
lap up the wine from the floor. While he licked up the wine he sang again and
again songs of Eretz Yisrael repeating “heiligeh vein… heligeh vein…” My
Rebbi, Reb Yisrael Asia, who told me this story from his father who was a young
man that was there in the shul and witnessed this sight, told me that it made
an everlasting impression on his father.
“Azoy iz vi ah gemoligeh yid gi’felt vegen Eretz Yisrael-
That’s the way the old time Jews felt about Eretz Yisrael, “- he
would repeatedly say. And what does that say for us today? How far have we
fallen?
To be honest, I don’t know how much I’ve grown spiritually over
the past years or over my entire life, to be really truthful. I was raised to
be a frum Jew. I went to the right yeshivos. I was programmed to become the
person I’ve become pretty much from the start. I don’t really know much of
another way of life. Ashreinu Ma Tov Chelkeinu- I’m fortunate and
blessed that I was born into the only real authentic religion, that has
meaning, that has spirituality, that has great holidays; that has Shabbos and
that has Chulent.
As well being born frum gives me plenty of intellectual
stimulation. Torah learning is challenging, it’s exciting and it’s so so cool
to be learning and studying works that are thousands of years old that my
ancestors ‘horreved’ over for millennia and was given to Moshe on Sinai
by the Master of the World. So, I don’t know how much credit I get for
anything. I’ve been on an escalator going up and haven’t really had to climb on
any stairs on the spiritual ladder.
Yet, there is one area that I think I can say I’ve grown and that
is in my love and passion for Eretz Yisrael. When I studied here in Yeshiva, I
remember asking my parents to send me all the great things that you can’t get
here. Sour Pickles, Pastrami, American cheese, Ketchup, normal Tuna fish, you
know, the important things in life. Even after moving here 13 years ago, there
were still much that I missed in America, despite the fact pretty much all the
above are now available here. But it was more of the other stuff that are the
ease and convenience of being raised in a goyishe country where you
don’t have to deal with Jews all the time. There’s customer service, the banks
are not trying to rip you off and are happy for your business, Not everyone you
deal with is gonna hit you with hidden fees. When your repairman tells you
he’ll be there, he will. And on and on and on…
Well, you know what? That stuff doesn’t bother me anymore. I’ve
grown. I love this country so much it’s like parts of the stuff that you may
have about your spouse or your child that annoys you. But it doesn’t make a
difference. You love them more than the world. Like the wine that fell on the
dirty floor. It may be a little dusty…but its so holy and so special it tastes
better than anything else out there. It’s ours. It’s Heilig. And I’m so
lucky to be here and to experience everything.
In this week’s Torah portion of Pinchas as I reviewed the Parsha I
kept finding this theme coming up again and again and again. It’s interesting
that the parsha is titled Pinchas, as seemingly Pinchas is only really the
first four verses or so of the Parsha. Yet, if we understand, as our sages tell
us that Pinchas is also the soul of Eliyahu Ha’Navi whose job is to return the
hearts of the sons to their fathers and to bring us to the land of Israel in
the ingathering of the Exiles, then perhaps there is no title better for a
parsha that seems to have a theme to it about the love of the Land.
See the story about Pinchas is really last week’s Portion. This
week’s Pinchas connection and title are really just about telling us about his yichus.
Where he comes from. And where all of us come from. Rashi tells us that
although everyone was maligning him for his zealous actions, after-all his
grandfather was Yisro who worshipped idols. He realized that his real identity
is from his grandfather Aharon. He knew where he came from. His grandfather never
made it to the land of Israel. He wasn’t able to bring the nation into Israel. Yet,
Pinchas was going to make sure we made it here. We wouldn’t forget the passion
of our ancestors. And being the soul of Eliyahu, that happens when he returns
the children to their yichus; to the love and passion for Eretz Yisrael
of their ancestors.
The parsha continues with another counting of the Jewish people in
the wilderness. They don’t call this the Book of Numbers for nothing. Yet, if
this is the final count before we enter the land, why not wait until the end of
the Book? There’s still another war to be fought against Midyan which seems to
be thrown in in next week’s parsha. Why not wait until Ma’asey when we recap
all of the travels of the wilderness and then see how many are left? The answer
is that this is not just about the count. It’s about returning the hearts to
the father and filling it up with the love of Israel.
Take a look at some of the things it tells us about the count that
are thrown in there. We have the reminder about Dasan and Aviram, our old
friends who constantly tried to convince us not to go to Israel. Back in Egypt
they were the last to leave. They headed up the complainers and they even
joined Korach’s group and riled up everyone. Yet, the parsha tells us that it
didn’t help them. They were trying to divide the children from their Father.
Yet the pasuk tells us the children of Korach “never died”. They returned. They
did Teshuva. And fascinatingly enough Reb Zalman Sorotzkin writes in his
Oznayim L’Torah that they even received a portion in the land of Israel,
despite the fact that they were Levi’im who are not entitled to a portion. For the Talmud Yerushalmi writes that the
children of Korach received the Israelite portions of their mother’s family who
perished in the plague of Korach.
Do you know what made them turn back? Maybe the song that they
sang and sing will give us a hint. We recite it in our daily prayers each Monday.
A song, a psalm of the sons of Korah. Hashem is great and very
much praised, in the city of our God, the Mount of His Sanctuary.
The fairest of branches, the joy of the entire earth- Mount Zion, by the
north side, the city of a great king. God is in its palaces; He
is known as a stronghold…
As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of
Hosts, in the city of our God; God shall establish it forever and
ever…
We hoped, O Lord, for Your kindness in the midst of Your
Temple. Mount Zion shall rejoice..
Encompass Zion and surround it, count its towers. Give heed to its walls, raise
its palaces, in order that you may tell a later generation….
Did you notice all the bolded words? It’s Tzion. It’s Jerusalem.
It’s the city of Hashem. It’s splendor. It’s beauty. It’s passing that passion
down to the later generation.
The parsha continues with many other anomalies in this oddly
placed counting. Each of them relate to parents, children and the land. We have
Er and Onan that are mentioned who “died in the land of Canaan”. They
were there. They lived and were born in the Holy Land. But they didn’t want to
have generations there. They didn’t want to pass that love on. Thus they die in
Canaan. But they’re descendants return. Not only do they return, but they are
Mashiach’s line through Peretz and Zarach. It’s amazing. They will be returned
through Rus, who marries the descendants of those who didn’t want to pass on
that love and who even left the land entirely. Yet, they will come back from a
Moabite woman who says ‘Your land is my land. Where you walk I will walk. Your nation is my nation.’
It starts to get really fun though, when the counting and names
start to include the women. See, the Torah is not a haymish Jewish
magazine. It’s not only good with mentioning the women, but even sticks them in
when they are seemingly unrelated. See, if this counting is for the army, then
women don’t serve. If it’s for the inheritance of the land, then as well
seemingly they shouldn’t be mentioned. True, the daughters of Tzlafchad will
get a portion ultimately as we find out in the end of the Parsha, yet here they
don’t know that yet. So why mention them by name. Why mention Search the
daughter of Asher. Yes, she’s pretty old, at least 250 if not more, since she
was living back when Yaakov was alive in Egypt. But still that doesn’t seem to be
a reason to mention them here by the counting. As well we will see, that Yocheved
is mentioned. Fascinatingly enough, when Moshe is born it doesn’t say her name.
She’s just a Levite woman. Yet here she’s mentioned by name. Why?
The answer is because all these women share a love for the land. Serach
is the one in Egypt that tells Yaakov that Yosef is alive. She is the one who
sings for him to go into Exile. Yet, she is the one that tells the nation after
210 years of slavery and assimilation that the redeemer will come and when he
comes he will use the words pakod yifkod- we will be counted. We will be
redeemed. We will return to the Land. Yocheved was born in the gateways of the
Jews coming to Egypt, yet she is the one that gives the Jewish women strength and
saves the Jewish babies from Pharaoh. It’s not merely a Hatzala call. It’s that
she comforts the children. She sings them lullabies of a better a day. A holy land.
Of heiligeh wine…
And finally we have the 5 daughters of Tzlafchad. The Torah traces
their yichus all the way back to their great grandfather Yosef. Their grandfather
Menashe was born in exile. Their father never even saw the land. Whereas all the
other tribes had heard stories from their parents of the holy land. Their roots
were in the palace of Egypt. Their great-grandfather Yosef left when he was 17
years old and never went back. Yet, Yosef instilled in them of a love of Eretz
Yisrael more than any other tribe. For the bones of Yosef were with them in the
Midbar for forty years. That impacted them. That changed them. That
inspired them to demand and request a portion, despite that there was no law on
the books that they would be able to get one. But when you’re in love with something
so much, everything is possible. And when you’re in love with the land of
Hashem, then He will make sure that you will get it.
Imagine the scene of this week’s parsha. There are over a million
or so people standing there on the banks of Moav looking into Israel across the
Jordan River. That million people we are told are almost entirely women. There
are no men ages 60-100 besides two. Kalev and Yehoshua who we are told are
mentioned because they love the land. They stuck up for it. They get portions
that nobody else from their graduating class got. All the other men died. They
didn’t connect to the land. The women though, with that deeper spiritual
longing. They understood that there was only one place where we should live. The
Midrash even tells us that when Moshe sent the spies to the land Hashem told
him Shelach Lecha Anashim- send for yourself men… The Midrash comments
wryly that Hashem told Moshe that your mistake is that you sent men. If you
would’ve sent women though who love are known to love the land, then the
mission would’ve been successful. It is in the merit of the Nashim
Tzidkinyaos. Those lullabies and longing for Israel that the Mama’s and
Bubbeh’s instilled in us for Eretz Yisrael and redemption that we are coming
home.
What is the reason for the women to be more passionate about the
land then the men? Perhaps it’s as I learned in my pre-marriage chasan
class because the man’s role is merely to feel incomplete without a woman who
has been taken from his rib. He seeks her out to complete him. The women though
are charged with not only finding her spouse, but by finding her place. The
home she was removed from. The place where she belongs. See, men are pretty
comfortable wherever you put us. We acclimate better. We were never displaced.
Yet the woman at her very core is looking not just for her soulmate, but as
well the place where the two of them can become Ish and Isha a
man and wife; with the yud and hei letters from each of their
names joining together to spell and build a home for Hashem.
Rashi notes that’s why each of the tribes mentioned have the yud
and hei before them in this counting to symbolize the connection to our
parents and the yichus and our job that we never forgot and that is at our
core. Yet the Klei Yakar takes it a step further. He points out that the hei
precedes each name while the yud follows it in the spelling- as in ‘Ha’Reuvein’i’,
‘Ha’Shimon’I’. This is strange because it should be the other way around
as the name of Hashem has the yud before the hei. He answers the
reason for this is because the ‘hei” is the letter at the end of the woman.
It’s ishah. And in this counting, it is the woman’s letter that comes
first. It’s their merit that we come to the land. It’s their connection that
kept the spark alive. Eliyahu may returns the hearts of the fathers to the son,
but the mothers are all good to go.
The Parsha goes on and on with Eretz Yisrael connections. Moshe passionately
is told to look over at the beloved land, Yehoshua the lover of Eretz Yisrael
is appointed to be the leader and we conclude with the sacrifices daily and holidays
when we are all connected to Eretz Yisrael. Again it seems strange that the
daily sacrifices are brought here. Not only have they been taught before in the
Torah, but what do they have to do with the land, with our coming home?
There is a fascinating Midrash which says that nobody in Yerushalayim
ever went to sleep with a sin. For the morning Tamid atones for the sins of the
nighttime and the evening tamid sacrifice atones for all of the sins of
the day. Rav Yisrael Chasida (the grandfather of Rav Margalit- rav of Karmiel)
asks why is it only the people of Jerusalem that have that benefit? Isn’t the
Tamid sacrifice for everyone? We all chip in. We all should be atoned for.
His answer is so powerful and amazing. He points out the famous
rule of the Baal Shem Tov, that a person is found where his thoughts are. If
one is thinking about America, then that’s where he really is. We daven towards
Yerushalayim and that in fact puts us right there in the Temple. When the sages
tell us that no one in Yerushalayim went to sleep with a sin. It doesn’t only
mean one who is physically there. You can be in Lakewood, you can be in Bialystok,
you can be in Auschwitz, in Spain, in Babylonia, but if your heart is in
Yerushalayim, then you’re free of sin. You’ve arrived.
You maybe sitting at your Pesach Seder, you may be in your Sukka, you
may be physically far away. But each holiday we read from the Torah Parshat
Pinchas; the Parsha of the Love of the Land, the parsha of Eliyahu Ha’Navi. It’s
the most read Parsha in the Torah. We read it and we remember that it only here
where the real laws and experience of holidays are meant to be felt. It’s not
in your fancy Sukka or Seder in a hotel in Cancun, in your palace in the Five
Towns, or in your shtibel or yeshiva simchas beis Ha’Shoeiva in the Diaspora.
It’s in your Musaf davening when your heart reads these verses of the sacrifices
and you’re transported to Yerushalayim.
The Gaon of Vilna says the source and hint for the Rambam that
there is a mitzva to wait for the redemption everyday is in fact from the
Korban Tamid verses
Es Korbani Lachmi L’ishai reyach nichochi tishmeru- The daily bread fire sacrifice should be guarded.
The word Tishmeru- to guard, comes from the verse that the
Torah says about Yaakov when Yosef told him his dreams.
V’aviv Shamar es Ha’davar- And his father waited and watched
for the day that it would happen and be fulfilled. When we recite this daily
sacrifice we as well long and await as our father did for the day when we will
once again be returned to our land and bring that bread, that offering to
Hashem
We’ve entered the three weeks of mourning for our Temple. It’s the
time when we stop life as it is at varying degrees and realize that things aren’t
right. It’s not the way it’s supposed to be. And it’s then that our hearts need
to long more and more to come home. Even us that merit to live in Eretz Yisrael
aren’t entirely home yet-although it’s the right address. The land is responding
more and more to it’s people’s return. But it wants us all. Do we want it? Do
we need it? It’s the questions we need to ponder. We need to pray for. It’s
something that we’ve lost since the time of the ah moligeh yidden who once
lived and breathed that dream. The dream of Yosef, the dream of our fathers and
mothers. had. May Pinchas/ Eliyahu return us to them.
Have a memorable Shabbos,
Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz
************************
YIDDISH PROVERB OF THE WEEK
“Di
varemsteh bet is di mamas.”- The warmest
bed is mother’s.
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S TOUR GUIDE EXAM QUESTION OF THE WEEK
answer below at end of Email
29)
Bat Shlomo, Meir Shfeya and Giv'at Ada are names related to which family?
The
First Aliyah began, among other things, due to which riots?
A) The
"Negev storms" (Kyiv Pogrom)
B) The
Rhineland Massacres
C) The
Khmelnitsky Massacre
D) The
Cossack Riots
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S COOL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
https://soundcloud.com/ephraim-schwartz/al-eileh-acapella
- It’s
the three Weeks. Acapella time again… and start off your three weeks with my
mournful Al Eileh Composition that hopefully we won’t have to sing this Tisha B’Av
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w_DaILfKRo
–Rabbi Klatzkows Al Eileh Acapella also
hauntingly beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ozd01p9vuY
– Ari Goldwag’s BiYerushalayim so
heartfelt
RABBI SCHWARTZ'S ERA’S AND THEIR
PLACES AND PEOPLE IN ISRAEL OF THE WEEK
King Recap - 670 BC- After the quasi- righteous kings Yehoshafat and Ahab
things turn downhill for the Jewish nation. On the one hand there is a
continued peace between the Kingdom of Yisrael and Yehudah that
was started between the two kingdoms in the times of Achav. It was that
reason that Chazal tell us that he merited to rule so long despite being an
idolator and having killed the prophets of Hashem. This is perhaps a remarkable
and powerful message for our times. Hashem prefers peace amongst us and values
that even more than adherence to the mitzvos and the worst sins… How
mind-blowing is that? What does that have to say in how we should view our
interactions with the secular governments of Israel? Food for thought…
Well that relationship strengthens when the Yehoram
son of Yehoshafat marries Athalia, the daughter of Achav. thus
making him brother-in-law of Yehoram the son of Achav. Two
brother-in-laws with the same name. Achazaya takes over for him and he
is influenced by his mother and things head downhill spiritually. When that happens,
Hashem sends wars to wake us up. In the beginning He preforms miracles for us,
but ultimately if we don’t repent the game is over.
So the first war we have is against Edom,
our brother Esau in the south Negev area of Israel. The entire
period since we entered the land Edom was subservient to Israel. They
had 8 Kings before we got there and during the period of the shoftim. But Dovid
Hamelech conquers them and appointed their governors and they behaved
themselves and were subservient to us. Now things turned for the worse and they
start to rebel. Yehoram, the King of Yehuda fights them and
trounces them, but the underpinnings were there.
With that unsettlement and sense of the weakness
on our part, the Philistines and Kushites attack us and Yehoram gets
struck and is laid ill. Achazaya takes over the reign and he joins with Yehoram
the son of Achav (his uncle) to fight against Syria in the North;
the kingdom of Chazael who had been anointed by Elisha. The huge
battle takes place by Ramot Gilead. This is today in the lower Golan
Heights by the bottom of the Kinneret and Jordan River. It’s
a place where many historic battles take place. And Yehoram and the Jews
get trounced, Yehoram falls sick and Achazya comes up from Israel to
visit him. All the cards are set. We haven’t done teshuva. Enter Elisha and it
is time for Hashem’s revenge against the house of Achav and the evil of Yehuda
to take place.
RABBI SCHWARTZ’S TERRIBLE GRANDPARENTS
JOKES OF THE WEEK
What does grandpa do when you tell him to change his
hearing aid? He doesn't listen.
"My grandmother ate spaghetti everyday… Until
she pasta-way
A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived. “Oh,”
he said, “she lives at the airport, and when we want her, we just go get her.
My grandpa started walking five miles a day when he
was 60 years old... Now he's 97, and we have no idea where could he be.
My grandpa’s so cheap, when he dies, he’ll probably
walk towards the light and turn it off
Grandpa died because we couldn’t figure out his blood
type. At least he told us to be positive..
I want to die like my grandpa did, in his sleep. Not
screaming like the people in the back seat of his car
My late grandpa used to hate looking in the mirror.
Humble man, terrible driver.
My grandpa is 95 years old and he doesn't even use
glasses. He drinks straight from the bottle
Why do grandparents smile all the time? Because they
can't hear a word you're saying!
What do you call a man sitting in hot water? Stew.
What do you call a man who is sitting in barely warm
water? Luke.
60-year-old man went to the doctor for a check-up.
The doctor told him, "You’re in terrific shape. There`s nothing wrong
with you. You have the body of a 35 year old. By the way, how old was your
father when he died?"
The 60 year old responded, "Who said he was
dead?"
The doctor was surprised and asked, "How old
is he and is he very active?"
The 60 year old responded, "Well, he is 82
years old and he still goes skiing three times a season and surfing three times
a week during the summer."
The doctor couldn`t believe it. "Well, how
old was your grandfather when he died?"
The 60 year old responded again, "Who said he
was dead?"
The doctor was astonished. He said, "You mean
to tell me you are 60 years old and both your father and your grandfather are
alive? Is your grandfather very active?"
The 60 year old said, "He goes skiing at
least once a season and surfing once a week during the summer. Not only
that," said the patient, "my grandfather is 106 years old, and
next week he is getting married again."
The doctor said, "At 106 years old, why on
earth would your grandfather want to get married?"
His patient looked up at the doctor and said, "Who
said he wanted to? His mother put on tremendous pressure.”
Five year old Emma was sitting on her grandfather
David’s lap as he read her a bedtime story.
From time to time, Emma would take her eyes off the book and reach up to
touch David’s wrinkled cheek. She was
alternately stroking her own cheek, then his again. Finally Emma spoke up, "Grandpa, did
God make you?"
"Yes, darling," he answered, "God made me
a long time ago."
"Oh," she paused, "Grandpa, did God make me
too?"
"Yes, indeed, sweetheart," he said, "God made
you just a little while ago."
Feeling their respective faces again, Emma observed,
"God's getting better at it, isn't he?"
A Jewish grandmother is giving directions to her
grown grandson who is coming to visit with his wife.
"You come to the front door of the
apartments. I am in apartment 301. There is a big panel at the front door. With
your elbow, push button 301. I will buzz you in. Come inside and the elevator
is on the right. Get in, and with your elbow, push 3rd Floor. When you get out,
I'm on the left. With your elbow, hit my doorbell. OK?"
"Grandma, that sounds easy, but, why am I
hitting all these buttons with my elbow?
"What . .. . .. . You're coming empty
handed?"
After
40 long years, my grandma has finally gotten my grandpa to stop biting his
nails. She's hidden his teeth.
One Sunday, little Johnny's grandpa asks him a
question, "Do you know what one eye said to the other eye?"
"No,
grandpa."
"It said, Between you and me, something
smells."
“Back in the day,” a grandfather started to
say, “You could walk into a grocery store with $2 in your pocket, and walk
out with a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, and a bit of butter as well.”
“But nowadays,” he continued, “Wherever you go, there
are cameras.”
A grandfather who had serious hearing problems for a
number of years went to the doctor to be fitted for a hearing aid that would
return his hearing to 100%. The grandpa went back for further tests a month
later and the doctor said, “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be
really pleased that you can hear again.”
To which the elderly man replied, “Oh, I haven’t
told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I’ve
changed my will three times!”
Why do grandparents count pennies? They're the only
ones who have the time.
Why are grandparents and grandchildren always close
to each other? They both have a common enemy at the homefront who makes a fuss
about eating sweets.
********************************
The answer to this week”s question is A - OK the rule is not to do this when I’m half asleep. I got this only half right, but embrarrisngly for the wrong reason. I mean I knew the first part of the answer that was easy. All of those settlements are connected to the Rothschild damily that funded the First aliya and built these agricultural settlements for the nation to come home. Bat Shlomo is named after his mother Betty the daughter of Shlomo Rothschild. It’s a play on the name Betty and also the fact that Shlomo Ha’Melechs Daughter lived in this region married to Avinadav fascinatingly enough- which means father is a philanthropist. How’s that for trivia! Meir Sheifya is the youth village next to Zichron named after his grandfather Meir Rothchild- Sheifya is just the name of the Arab village that was there. Givat Ada is named after his wife Adhelheid. So I got all of those right. I messed up because I answered the Chemilnsky massacres. I had meant Kishinev..Which is what I was thinking and would be correct. The problem was that wasn’t an option. The correct answer was the Sufot Ba’Negev which were the rebellions and pogroms that took place after The Tzar wass assassinated. They called it that title- which I didn’t even know- because of a verse in Isaiah that describes Mashiach coming after “storms in the South”. So I probably would have gotten this wrong anyways. But really Chemilinsky revolution was in the 16 hundreds and had I had my coffee I would’ve known that for sure that was the wrong answer. So silly mistake. So once again half right one for me and the score now stands at 21.5 for Schwartz and 7.5 for Ministry of tourism on this exam so far.
